Feb 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. offshore wind industry is expected to play a major role in helping several states and President Joe Biden meet goals to decarbonize the power grid and combat climate change.

But progress slowed in 2023 after offshore developers cancelled contracts to sell power in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, and threatened to cancel agreements in other states, as soaring inflation, interest rate hikes and supply chain problems increased project costs.

There are currently four offshore wind farms producing power in the United States, but others are being constructed.

Below is a list of projects that are operating and in development. One megawatt of offshore wind can power about 500 U.S. homes.

IN FULL OPERATION:

Two projects are small and have been operating for years - Orsted's 29-megawatt (MW) Block Island off Rhode Island and Dominion Energy's 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Pilot off Virginia.

IN OPERATION BUT STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

South Fork

Orsted/Eversource Energy's 132-MW project started supplying power to New York in December. Eversource has said it plans to divest its 50% stake.

Orsted said in its 2023 annual report that it expects to complete the project in the first quarter, with some analysts saying it could enter full service in coming weeks.

Vineyard Wind 1

Avangrid/Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners' 806-MW project began supplying power to Massachusetts in January.

Analysts have said most of the project's 62 monopiles have been installed, but noted the vessel installing the monopiles went to another project. Monopiles are steel tubes driven into the seabed.

"Vineyard Wind 1 has fully contracted for the construction of the project, including all necessary vessel support ... monopile installation may recommence in Spring 2024," Avangrid said.

Analysts said the vessel needed to install the monopiles was expected to return to the site in May, which should allow developers to complete the project later this year.

Avangrid is part of Spanish energy firm Iberdrola.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION BUT NOT YET PRODUCING:

Revolution Wind

Orsted/Eversource started construction on the 704-MW project off Rhode Island and Connecticut in 2023.

Orsted said in its 2023 annual report that it expects to complete Revolution in 2025.

Eversource said it planned to divest its 50% stake.

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind

Dominion started onshore construction of the 2,587-MW project off Virginia around November 2023 and expects to start offshore construction in 2024 and complete the project in late 2026.

Dominion has said the roughly $10 billion project is on budget and on schedule. The company has also said it is looking for partners in the project.

Sunrise Wind

Orsted/Eversource's 924-MW Sunrise project off New York is waiting to see if its bid in New York's fourth offshore wind solicitation is successful.

The project was awarded a contract to sell power to New York from the state's first offshore solicitation in 2019.

The developers, however, cancelled the 2019 contract to rebid the project at a higher price in New York's fourth solicitation in January.

Orsted and other developers, including Equinor and BP, have said that some old contracts were uneconomic due to soaring inflation and interest rates.

Orsted said about 2.1 billion Danish crowns ($303 million) of the 26.8-billion Danish crown impairment it took in the third quarter of 2023 was for Sunrise.

Orsted said it will reduce the Sunrise impairment loss by about 1.8 billion Danish crowns if its gets an award in New York's fourth solicitation. But, if it does not get an award, the impairment loss will be about 5.5 Danish crowns higher.

Orsted also said it would acquire Eversource's 50% stake in Sunrise if the bid is successful.

Orsted said it expects New York to pick the winners of the fourth solicitation in March.

Empire Wind 1

Equinor/BP's 816-MW project off New York is also waiting to see if its bid in New York's fourth offshore solicitation was successful.

Equinor and BP in January agreed to swap ownership of their offshore wind projects with Equinor getting Empire Wind and BP getting Beacon Wind.

Like Sunrise, Empire Wind 1 had a contract from 2019 to sell power in New York from the state's first solicitation.

And like Sunrise, Equinor cancelled that contract to rebid the project in New York's fourth solicitation.

If successful, Equinor said the project could produce first power in 2026. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, Nora Buli, Nichola Groom and Scott DiSavino, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)